Thai Beauty Ad Uses Blackface to Promote Skin Whitening

A new beauty advertisement is making international headlines. In a commercial for the skin lightening pill, Snowz, actress Cris Horwang’s script emphasizes the importance of having white skin and the negative consequences associated with being darker.

“Just being white, you will win,” she says. Without the advertised pill, “the whiteness I have invested in, will just vanish,” she adds.

Skin whitening products have become increasingly popular through out Asia, including Thailand. Light skin is typically praised and seen as the standard of beauty, similar to Western cultures.

The promise of the Snowz commercial is that it, “will help you not to return to being dark.” The ad digitally darkens the actress from white to black to show the adverse effects of not taking the pill.

“Eternally white, I am confident,” she adds.

Snowz has since removed the ad from air after natives of Thailand as well as international viewers complained about the campaign’s overt depiction of racism.

The pill’s manufacture has since issued a statement: “(We) would like to apologize for the mistake and claim full responsibility for this incident. Our company did not have any intention to convey discriminatory or racist messages,” it said.

“What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills, and professionality (sic) is crucial.”